Birthday-part 1

So, because of some busy schedules Gabe's birthday events got split between two days. So, on Friday morning Gabe went to school and had a field trip to a pet store and then came back to have mini cupcakes and celebrate his birthday with his friends at school. Then we picked him and Carissa up at noon, when we picked up Carissa she was so excited. I guess all morning she was telling her teachers that she was going to Applebees for lunch. Gabe wanted to go to Applebees, so the four of us plus my mom, little brother and sister, and my cousin all met at Applebees for lunch.
While eating lunch we saw the staff sing Happy Birthday to two other tables. Gabe wanted them to sing to him too, so Ben told the waitress. We asked for no dessert, with being lactose intolerant an ice cream sundae isn't the greatest treat. When they came out to sing Gabe was very happy and they brought him a balloon apple to have, so that was a nice treat. After lunch we all went to my mom's house for presents, and then cake and ice cream. Gabe got some cars/trucks, a rocket ship shirt, a trash truck (that is really cool), and a 42 piece tool set and a few other things. He had a lot of fun with his new toys. Oh, I almost forgot, this time I made a cake mix from the grocery store instead of a special one and just used to egg replacer, so the cake was safe for Carissa to eat. And Gabe wanted a dinosaur on his cake so Ben did the dinosaur and decorating of the cake.

Hiking

On Saturday we drove up to Snowbird and went for a little hike at the ski resort. Part of the path we walked on was even paved, so it wasn't a real difficult hike or anything and it had some signs along the path about the animals, plants and history of the area. I think that Gabriel really enjoyed our time up there being outside. Carissa, had her moments of enjoying and of complaining.
Carissa didn't want to walk, and she didn't like the bugs flying around her. I just told Carissa that hiking means walking and she said that she wanted to go hiking, so she didn't complain too much. And we told her that the bugs flying around was also just a part of being outside. We say several Uintah ground squirrels on our hike, which the kids really liked. It was a nice family outing,and I think we will do it again soon. However, hopefully next time I will remember the first aid kit so we have it just in case. I realized I forgot it this time and then Carissa skinned her knee right in the beg. of our hike. Luckily, it wasn't that bad.

Dentist

We went to Carissa's and Gabe's 6-month dental check up today. And desptite, all of Carissa's protests last night I had her convinced to do the pictures (x-rays) and to let the dentist look at her teeth. Last visit she did the x-rays and she was completely upset for the rest of the appointment and did nothing else, so I figured one step at a time. Last summer we found out that Carissa had 6 cavities, we did a great job brushing her teeth but we didn't floss her teeth. Isn't it enough to manage to brush a 2 and 3 year olds teeth? The answer was no, the cavities were between her 1 year old molars and 2 year old molars. She was put to sleep and all the cavities were filled and she also got one silver cap. She hasn't wanted anything to do with the dentist since then. Also for the last year Carissa and Gabe get their teeth brushed twice a day and flossed once a day almost every single day, because I felt so horrible about Carissa's cavities I didn't want her to get anymore. And I wanted to save Gabe from cavities althogether.
So we get to the dentist's office today and Carissa did really well. She did the pictures, flossing and let the dentist look all without protest. When they tried to brush her teeth she didn't want anything to do with it so they said maybe next time. And Gabe did all of his appointment and did great with it. He didn't seem to mind at all. But, now for the bad part Carissa might have one more small cavity. The dentist said that it was still iffy, but he thought that the safe route would be to take care of it now. Because, it is one small cavity he said that we can just gas her and take care of it in office, not like the last time. So we are currently scheduled for the end of this month. At this rate she will never like the dentist's office. For myself, I've still never had a cavity and I've probably flossed Carissa's and Gabe's teeth now more than I've ever flossed my own teeth. I just never got in the habit of doing it, and was lucky enough that I could get away with it.

Stuck

This evening I was in the playroom with Carissa when I heard Gabe just outside of the room on the stairs starting to say "owie" and he sounded upset, so I told him to come see me. And then I stood up to go find him he sounded more and more upset. I found him on top of the hand rail for the stairs and his leg was stuck, because he must have stuck it in between the wall and rail and then bent his knee so he couldn't pull it back out. I made him hold his leg straight and then pulled him off of the rail. He was upset but not hurt bad. And while I'm still not sure how he got up there, he said that he wouldn't do it again. Also I got a picture of him, because I had just been using the camera so it was right there already. I didn't just leave him there to get the camera or anything.

Dress up and Potty training

So today after school the kids decided to play dress up, and when Gabe came down and asked for help putting on his Buzz lightyear costume I reminded him that if he needed to go potty he would have to be fast so I could help him out of the costume first. A few minutes later Carissa came down to show me how she had dressed up.
Which as a side note, we don't have central air conditioning; all we have is a small window unit in the living room window and the play room and bedrooms are all upstairs. So, after we get home from school the house is usually 85-90 throughout most of it and I start venting it out to cool it off. Anyway, between the heat and the fact that it is supposed to make your family healthier to change their clothes after school, the kids just run around in their underwear after school right now.
A few minutes later Gabe came downstairs and told me that I should come upstairs and ask him if he needs to go potty now. So I said, "Why do you need to go potty." He said, "Yes." So I helped him out of his costume and he was off to go potty.
Usually he will just tell me that he needs to go potty, so that was a little weird. Which right now Gabe is doing great he stays dry most of the time day and night. We are just having a harder time getting him to poop in the potty right now, which he has done it lots of times before but recently he won't do it.

Evolution of a Name

As Gabriel is getting really close to being 3 years old I was thinking about his name, and how big of an influence Carissa has had on his name. Carissa was 18 months old when Gabe was born and she couldn't say "Gabriel" very well, but she combined Gabriel and baby together and we all ended up calling Gabe "Babriel" quite a bit for the first couple of months. Then Carissa came up with "Gabey" combining Gabe and baby, so we all started calling Gabe "Gabey." We also called him, "Gabey baby" a lot of the time until last year when Gabe was getting close to being 2 years old. Then I decided to stop calling him baby and changed it to "Gabey man" and that one has stuck, he introduces himself as "Gabey man" when he meets people. And the thing that I found most amusing about Gabriel's name is that not too long after I started calling him "Gabey man" I got the idea to lift him in the air and say "to the rescue" which he responded by immediately lifting his arms in the air like he was flying. So, basically we created a new super hero and Gabriel is proud to let people know that he is, "Gabey man to the rescue." I don't know where his name will go from here, but I doubt that he will be introducing himself as, "Gabey man to the rescue," when he gets older. Gabe's name has changed more than I had ever imagined at this point, and look forward to where ever it goes from here.

Growing Up

First of all, it has been quite awhile seen I've posted on here, but we went to CA for vacation in June and then I went back to school for the summer semester. The summer semester will be over in a week and a half though.

A couple days ago Ben said that Carissa was telling him all about what her life was going to be like when she grew up, then today on our drive home she started telling me about it.

Carissa: I'm still going to have 3 kids when I grow up and I'm going to be a mommy doctor. I'm going to get up at 5:30 in the morning and eat breakfast and feed my babies breakfast and then kiss them good-bye and go to the doctor's office.

Me: Who is going to watch your babies while you are at the doctor's office?

Carissa: Oh, I will drop them off at school first.

I love listening to all of things that she says, and I really like the part that she is going to get up at 5:30. At least she is planning for it now. Usually, she talks about getting married to Jack when she grows up. Very much to my surprise, Carissa and Jack have been boyfriend/girlfriend at school for over a year now. They hug and the teachers have caught them kissing too, and they are only 4. I'm worried what will happen when she is older, a year long relationship at 3/4 years old is a long time.